Tag: bronzer

Happy New Year!I hope you had a safe and fun New Years with friends and family.

Today is the first day of 2018 and it’s also the first blog post of the year.This is going to be the best year for Starpixel yet! 🙂

We are still in a deep freeze here in good ole’ Alberta so the goal for today is to continue to stay warm. This past week was a good week to be a homebody because it’s so cold outside! It’s given me a chance to catch up on things at home which also includes catching up on some unboxings… like this one. 🙂

Today we are going to take a look at what I receive in my December Boxycharm. The theme for this month is Glitz and Glam which is perfect for the holiday season!There were a number of variations for Canadian subscribers this month which is different from before when everyone would receive the same box.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Boxycharm, it is an American subscription box that ships to Canada. It is $21.00 USD per month or you can get a small discount for a 3-month, 6-month or annual subscription. You can cancel at anytime which is nice. Each month you will receive four to five full-sized beauty items. If you would like to try this sub, I would appreciate it if you would use my link here. 🙂

Now on to the goodies!

The Real Her Blush Kit ($32.00 USD) is paraben free, cruelty free, gluten free and contains natural ingredients. This palette includes three shades: Fearless (a shimmery pink), Limitless (a matte coral) and Unstoppable (a rose shade with a hint of glitter). Each shade can be applied lightly for a more natural look but you can definitely build it up for more colour.

I also received the Beaute Basics Bronze Essentials ($39.95 USD) in my box. This bronzer contains three matte and two shimmery gold shades which can be used individually or mixed together. It’s a nice compact and has a mirrot too. This makes this bronzer very portable.

The Makeup Geek Showstopper Creme Stain in the shade Quickstep ($12.00 USD) is a cool toned beige liquid lipstick. This is a nice matte shade that applies smoothly and feels comfortable on my lips. I’m not typically a huge fan of lip stains but this one applies more like a creamy liquid lipstick. I wasn’t sure about this shade at first but it does look less brown once I have it on.

The tarte tarteist Lash Paint Mascara ($23.00 USD) is awesome! I have used this in the past and I love it. The formulation strengthens and conditions your lashes while giving you extra volume. I don’t find it clumpy at all and I adore the brush. The brush does wonders on my lashes! I’m so glad I got a full-sized mascara! Can’t wait to reintroduce it to my day-to-day makeup.

The last item I received was the Vintage Cosmetics Illuminating Face Highlighter in Rose Gold ($32.00 USD). This highlighter is beautiful! It’s easy to brush on lightly for a subtle but it’s also buildable if you want to go all out. I’m such a highlighter junkie so this was perfect for me!

And that, my friends, was my December Boxycharm. The total value of this box was $138.95 USD or $175.23 CAD based on today’s exchange rate.

I continue to love the fact that you receive full-sized products in this box. My faves for this month are the tarte mascara and Vintage Cosmetics highlighter… it’s a toss up, really!

What did you think of December’s box? Start the conversation below. 🙂

Disclaimer: I pay for this subscription with my own money. All opinions are mine and mine alone. This post contains referral links.

April’s ipsy glam bag is your ticket in to the show.Literally. The bag is a shaped like a ticket! 🙂

The theme for April’s bag is Side Show. It represents fun – like having fun at the arcade, having fun on the rides and just having fun in general.

While the bag itself is unique and cute, it does lack storage space in that it’s not the ipsy bag that would hold the most stuff. It is more about how it looks than it is practical, in my opinion. Still super cute, though. It would make a great conversation starter if you use it as a clutch!

Moving on, let’s take a look at the items I received in my bag.

The first item in my glam bag also embodies the “fun” vibe. The Glamour Dolls x Lisa Frank Angle Blush Brush ($5.00 USD)has unicorns and rainbows on it. This seems to be the “in thing” with a lot of companies nowadays, especially with unicorns, so I feel like this brush is very current. And the whole Lisa Frank think is totally a throwback to my childhood. I grew up loving Lisa Frank products and often saw the Lisa Frank ads in my Archie comic books and digests. I used to collect the stickers, buy stationery for school… the handle on this brush is just so nostalgic for me! The brush itself has very soft bristles with rose gold on the handle. So cute! This would be a great brush, not only for blush, but for power highlighters and bronzers, as well.

Next up, we have the Adesse New York Cupuacu Butter Lip Balm ($24.00 USD, 3 g) – and it is indeed full sized! Being the lip balm junking that I am, I was happy to see this. I have never heard of the brand Adesse before so I’m looking forward to trying it. The site says that this lip balm will smooth, moisturize and hydrate your lips. It looks two-toned but it’s mostly sheer and the centre core is “infused with cold pressed Cupaucu Butter”. The ginger mint scent is subtle but not my favourite. I find lip butters to be more moisturizing than just simple lip balms so I’m curious to see if that’s the case with this one.

Now how cute is this packaging? I recieved the Ciate London Mini Bamboo Bronzer in the shade Palm Island ($8.00 USD, 0.1 oz). Stars and a bow – what can I say? I am a sucker for cute packaging! 🙂 Palm Island is a mid to dark bronze. I think this shade should work on me… as long as I’m not super tanned. It feels silky to the touch and is lightweight. What I really like about this is that it’s a matte bronzer. There’s now glitter or shimmer or anything. I also love how it comes in a mini size. i can definitely keep it in my camping makeup bag and use it for travel in general.

This one I am super curious about. The Jesse’s Girl Liquid Eyeliner in Black ($6.99 USD, 1 ml) says it is Japanese made on the packaging and I’ve had great success with some Asian eyeliners in the past. It has a super thin, super precise tip which is what I usually use with liquid liners so this is right up my alley! Reminds me a bit of my holy grail Kat Von D Tattoo Liner that I adore. I haven’t tried it yet because I currently still have one KVD and an Essence eyeliner that I’m using but I will certainly try this one in the future. I hope it works well.

The last item in my bag was the Avene Rich Compensating Cream ($3.50 USD, 5 ml). I am a big fan of Avene moisturizers and this one would have been very handy this past winter when my face felt drier than usual. This is a richer, thicker moisturizer that is said to melt into your skin to soothe and nourish it. It doesn’t hurt to keep a product like this around if you tend to have dry skin at times. I’m sure I will be using it at some point in time.

And there we have it. The total value of my April ipsy glam bag was $47.49 USD which makes it around $65 CAD at today’s exchange rate. That’s not bad.

This wasn’t my absolute favourite bag but it was still pretty good. I will be using pretty much everything I received so that’s always a plus!

What was in your April glam bag?

Until next time, friends!

Disclaimer: I pay for this subscription with my own money. All opinions are mine and mine alone. This post contains referral links.

It’s time for another ipsy glam bag unboxing!Well, I guess it’s more of an unbagging. That doesn’t have quite the same ring to it but it’s the truth! Technicalities aside, let’s take a look at the bag and the mix of items that I received.

February’s theme is Much Love.How perfect is that considering it is Valentine’s Day? But aside from all that lovey dovey stuff, what ipsy was trying to get across is that the Much Love theme is all about your inner glow and how you show your squad, well, Much Loveone… which I was really skeptical about at first because it also has a neon orange trim that screams 80s and early 90s! Not exactly what I imagined for February, the month of love, but I suppose it will do. When I received it, I thought the bag was alright. It was a super soft denim material and it was cute. Not my favourite by any means but also not horribly bad.

The contents of the bag, however, is what made my February glam bag really shine!I absolutely adored everything I received! Let’s take a closer look.

The first item I received was the Luna by Luna Cosmetcis Highligher int he shade Calypso ($23.00 USD, 3 g). If you haven’t noticed, I have been on a huge highlighter kick lately! So I was happy to get a new one to try. When I first saw my bag reveal and saw that the colour was described as a pale lavender shade so I really wasn’t sure about this. But it did say that it’s a mix of warm and cool undertones that works with every skintone so I was willing to give it a shot. At the end of the day, it kind of reminds me of the new Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Prismtic Amethyst… not exactly but in the same or similar colour family. I wish I owned the Becca one to compare swatches. Anyways, this one is a baked highlighter so it feels sillky smooth to the touch. It is sheer with one swipe but it is super buildable so you can use as little or as much as you’d like depending on the look you’re trying to achieve. I don’t have one in this shade yet and I find it is pretty unique so I will try it. And can I just say that I love the name of this company and the packaging? I love stars and anything sky related, really, so Luna is right up my alley!

I also received a lip product in the form of a NYX Butter Lipstick in Lifeguard ($6.00 USD, 4.5 g). I have tried butter lipsticks before and I’m a huge fan of their formulation and pigmentation. I love that they are creamy and not drying at all! But while I love them, I’m just so-so on this shade. Lifeguard is described as a deep magenta but to me it seems like it leans more towards red… and I am so not a bright red lipstick girl! I have been leaning more towards neutrals lately, everyday colours that I can use at the office or as I go about y errands during the day. And when I do choose a red, I go for the deeper berry colours. So at the end of the day, I adore this product but I am passing on the shade.

I am actually quite excited about this next product because I have been dabbling in the world of toners lately! The Dermadeli Rejuvinating Toner ($2.49 US, 10 ml) intrigues me. I have never heard of this brand before but it’s all natural so I am willing to give it a chance. It is said to “remove cellular debris, tighten pores and firm(s) the skin” which all sounds great. The witch hazel and sea kelp helps with keeping your skin moisturized, as well. The one thing that is turning me off is the very strong scent that it has. It’s very herbal due to the witch hazel. While this comes in a great size for travel, the last time I received a toner sample in this size, I had wished that I had more! We’ll see if it’s the same thoughts this time around.

Next up is the Elizabeth Mott Whatup Beaches Matte Bronzer ($2.19 USD, 0.7 g). My first impression of this was disappointing… mainly because this was so small and I have received other products form Elizabeth Mott that were much larger. When I received a blush from this brand last year, it was pretty much full-sized so when I saw that I was getting this, the expectation was pretty much the same. Instead, this made me reminiscent of the super small theBalm samples I have received and were unhappy with in the past. Anyways, I guess it was not meant to be. However, it still looks like a nice bronzer! It is matte and pigmented. A little powdery but easy enough to blend. I do prefer matte bronzers because they look more natural on me. This was also easy to depot. The pan came right out and I think I will just add it to my magnetic palette. Overall thoughts? Underwhelming in size, challenging to use with my larger brushes that I use for bronzer but still worth a try because I loved the blush I received before so much.

Last but not least, my fave out of the entire bag – the Luxie Rose Gold Blush Brush 514 ($24.20 USD). Because you can never have too many brushes! I am a HUGE fan of Luxie brushes so I’m happy to be able to add a new one to my collection. This blush brush is made of soft synthetic bristles and is 100% cruelty free and 100% vegan. It’s so soft and so fluffy which is what I look for in a blush brush so this is just perfect for me! Great for powders like blush, bronzers or pressed highlighters. I just love it. It’s so great.

Well that’s it for February. The total value of this bag was $57.88 USD which translates into around $78.00 CAD so the value is definitely there!Plus, out of the five items I received, three were full sized (highlighter, lipstick and blush brush) so I really can’t complain at all! Everything will be used, as well. I can say with confidence that February’s ipsy glam bag was a win! 🙂

Like what you see here? For those of you who would like to give this a try and would like to know more, this subscription is $10.00 USD a month in the US and $10.00 USD + $4.00 USD shipping for Canadians. You get a mix of skincare, makeup and haircare deluxe and full sized products. And you get a different style of bag each month. If you are interested in trying this subscription, please use my link. 🙂

What did you love from ipsy’s February glam bag offerings? Did you make out like a bandit with your glam bag? Share in the comments below!

Until next time, my friends!

Disclaimer: I pay for this subscription with my own money. All opinions are mine and mine alone. This post contains referral links.

This was the very first time I have attempted a Project Pan before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Quite honestly, it was more challenging that I thought. But now that we’re into a new year, I thought I would reflect back on my attempt in 2016 and see what types of changes I can make for the better going into my 2017 Project Pan. That’s right – I liked it enough to attempt another one!

The Results

Empties:14/20 (minus one because I did remove one product from the last count of 21)Left over at the end of 2016:6/20

At the end of 2016, I had accomplished 14 empties for my Project Pan.This is two short of my goal of 16 but that’s still not bad, right? 14 is a good number and I am happy that I accomplished even that much! Plus, let’s not forget all the empties I had this year that were not included in my Project Pan. In my mind, those definitely count – I did still use them up this year! – so I did very well.

Final Update

To dive into the specifics a bit more since my last update in the summer, I have finished the Dear By Enprani Bounce Cream Cheese moisturizerand the Dear By Enprani Believe in a Bottle toner. that I received in a Memebox so long ago. That’s what brought my empties total to 14 products. The following is what was left over:

pur~lisse Blue Lotus 4-in-1 Eye Adore Serum(which I later removed from my Project Pan in favour of an eye cream that I was already using at the time)

Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser – the never-ending tube, I swear! I did make a good dent in it, though. I would say that I am about 80% finished it…. a vast improvement from the maybe 20% at the beginning of 2016.

PINK by Victoria Secret Party in Paradise Body Mist – I have many perfumes and many perfume samples… so I strayed from this… badly… especially after the first 6 months.

The Body Shop Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder – sadly, this was probably a bad choice for my Project Pan in the first place. Why? Because I tan so easily and by the month of May, this product was not required and became irrelevant. So I stopped using it.

MAC Cosmetics 4 Pan Palette – I tried so hard to use this as much as could but I own so many other eyeshadows so I didn’t. It was too hard and I got bored. Next!

Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 Hour Blush in Adore – See #5. It’s virtually the same reason. I also realized that I didn’t like it very much anyways. While it’s a very pretty colour, it just wasn’t pigemented enough! Strongly considering just getting rid of it altogether.

Summary and Realizations

I found it much easier to use up skin care items. Mostly because I use skin care every day, during the day and night. It gets used. Those items were easy and I felt really accomplished when it came to my skin care Project Pan items.

Makeup was the challenge! I got bored with them and strayed to my other makeup. I’m sure by September I had stopped using all the makeup items completely in favour of my other products.

I learned a lot about myself during my first Project Pan attempt. For example, I learned a lot about skin care and what works for me. I also learned to have a skin care routine that is consistent – I’ve never washed my face before bed as consistently until doing this! I also use makeup wipes less in favour of great cleansers. I also learned that I do need a variety of makeup. Limiting myself to only a few things bored me… it was no fun. I needed other eyeshadows and blushes! Hence why it wasn’t so successful.

Changes for 2017

You better believe I am going to do a Project Pan again in 2017! I still have a ton of things to use up! When I decided to do one for 2017, I knew I had to take all my lessons learned to heart. So with that being said, I will be strictly concentrating on only skin care, body care and hair care. Things that I do actually use every day and have a chance at having a successful Project Pan. No makeup!

However, I do have something in store for makeup this year. Drumroll please – Monthly Shop My Stash posts!

Each month, I will pick a selection of makeup items. The goal is not to use up the products but to use it as much as I can during the month. Then when the month is up, repeat. By doing this monthly, my makeup will still get used and I won’t get bored! Plus by putting my makeup on rotation, I can’t forget about the makeup that I have. I will hopefully be less likely to purchase something that I may already have or already own that is similar. This also helps me as a distraction from buying new products during my No Buy that I started on January 1st.

Yes – I am currently on a No Buy! No set goal length… just for as long as I can. Wish me luck! 😉

I still have to give some thought as to what I am including in my 2017 Project Pan and the details surrounding it, such as, the number of items and what those items will be. But rest assured, when I do have it all figured out, you will see it here first!

Greetings folks! After having a very long week last week, receiving this in the mail was a lovely surprise!

This unboxing is a little bit different for me because I know the girl who started it. Well, I don’t know her in real life but I know her online from a Canadian Facebook beauty group or two and she is the NICEST person! I know Yoanella (Miss Blanco herself!) put in a lot of hard work and research into this. She even asked a group of beauty box subscription lovers about their thoughts around beauty boxes, such as, what they love and don’t love about their current beauty box subscriptions in preparation of kicking off her very own beauty box subscription service. After all that preparation and hard work, Miss Blanco Joyful Box was born!

This week I received the very first Miss Blanco Joyful Box. The October box was chock full of amazing goodies! Not only do you get beauty and makeup items – which is a pretty standard offering in beauty box subs, really – but Yoanella expanded what her boxes offer to include both handmade and lifestyle products, as well. When we go through the contents of the box, you’ll see what I mean.

For the month of October, shipping was free so the box cost $38.00 CAD. Starting in November, the price of the box will be $38.00 CAD plus $6 CAD for shipping to Canada and $7 CAD for shipping to the US (to be converted to US Dollars).

Now that we have the logistics out of the way, what are we waiting for? Let’s begin this unboxing! You have no idea how excited I am to share this with you! 🙂

When I first opened the box, I noticed a cute Thank You card! 🙂

Underneath the card were the goodies. Let’s start with beauty, shall we?

The first item I received was the Manna Kadar LipLocked Priming Lip Wand in the shade Joie ($31.00 CAD, 2.5 g, full sized). Joie is the word “joy” in French – how perfect is it that I received this shade in my Joyful box! Joie is described as a “Muted Rose” and it really is such a gorgeous colour. Usually I am not a big fan of lip crayons due to how dry some of them can be but this one isn’t dry at all when I put it on. It goes on smooth and is nicely pigmented. Other pluses to this product? It’s paraben free, cruelty free and allergy tested.

I would still suggest that you use a lip scrub and lip balm to ensure that your lips are smooth when you use this if you have dry lips like me. Though it applies smooth, I found that to be because my lips were drier than usual (due to being sick and taking cold medication for the last few weeks, ugh), it would start to settle in the creases on my lips after awhile. The lip balm also adds a bit of gloss, making the muted rose colour shine and pop. This really was the perfect colour for me and I’m really happy that I received it! I have a feeling I will be toting that around with my new fave lip balm in my purse cause right now they are my “dynamic duo” of lip products. 😉

This next one was not on the card because I believe it was a little bonus surprise in my October box! I received a Lord & Berry 20100 Maxi Matte Crayon Lipstick in the shade Intimacy ($20.00 USD, 1.8 g, full sized). From the looks of it, the website shows that this is a limited edition product.

Yes, I already received a lip pencil but ohmigosh. Again, this is the perfect shade for me! This is darker than the Manna Kadar Lip Wand but it’s in a similar shade family and I do love those rose colour lippies! This lipstick crayon is also very easy to apply and the pigmentation is really great. It’s a very wearable colour for day-to-day at the office or for running errands on the weekend! Super happy with this as well. This lip junkie likes this too. 🙂

Here are some swatches of the two lip pencils.

I also received another product from this brand. The Manna Kadar Radiance Split Pan Bronzer and Highlighter Duo ($28.00 CAD, full size)is fab! This year has been the year of the highlighter for me and I really can’t say no to a lovely bronzer so I thought this was great! I have tried this product before receiving it in this box and I’m happy to have a backup now. Both the highlighter and the bronzer are super silky and very pigmented. The shades are perfect for my medium skin tone but by the looks of this, it looks like it would be great for most, if not all, skin tones. It’s very versatile that way. And hey, it’s also perfect for travel! You won’t need to bring a separate highlighter and bronzer because this takes care of it. I will be putting this in my makeup bag when I go on holidays!

The final beauty product in the October Miss Blanco Joyful Box was the Barefoot Venus Lilly Pilly Shea Butter Hand Cream ($6.75 CAD, 50 ml). Such cute pink packaging! I am a big fan of Barefoot Venus. Everything that I have tried from them so far, I’ve loved! It’s also great that this product is paraben free and also does not contain any synthetic colours, mineral oil or propylene glycol. And I love shea butter lotions. This one is no exception. This is a great hand cream. A little bit goes a long way! It’s a thick hand cream with a light scent. It’s quite nice! This is perfect for me right now because my hands are so dry from the colder weather. And this will be fantastic to take on my holiday. Big thumbs up on this one!

So just because we finished talking about beauty doesn’t mean we’re done this unboxing yet! What I love about this box is that it also included one lifestyle item and a handmade item.

The lifestyle item for the month of October is an adorable handmade soap in the shape of a cupcake ($6.00 CAD). How cute is that! It’s Canadian-made in Waterloo, Ontario and made exclusively for this subscription. The scent I got was in Pink Clay. I wasn’t sure what Pink Clay was so I had to Google it and came up with this description:

French Pink Clay is a combination of red and white clays. […] French Pink Clay can be used to cleanse and detoxify the skin, remove dead skin cells and create an overall refreshed appearance. It can also be used to treat acne and other skin ailments; poor blood and/or lymph circulation and sun damaged skin.

It has a soft scent but it smells really nice! I’ll be honest with you – it’s almost too cute to use! I could totally put it on display on my vanity. We’ll see what I end up doing with it.. it really is a toss up! Enjoy the lovely scented soap in the shower or display on my vanity… tough. Tough decision. 😉

Last but not least, the handmade item is a little crochet purse ($21.00 CAD). It was available in three colours and I just happened to receive the mint one! Perfect! Other than purple, greens are my fave colour. 😉 This crochet purse is perfect to keep in your handbag to for your loose change or other tiny items. I love receiving practical items in sub boxes!

The overall value of my Joyful Box for the month of October was $92.75 CAD PLUS a lippie with a value of $20.00 USD as a bonus surprise.That is amazing, AMAZING value!I am thrilled with my first Miss Blanco Joyful box! I can’t wait to see what November has in store. 🙂

If you want to try out this subscription, there is a coupon code available right now. Use the code MISSBLANCO10 for 10% off your first box!

Not ready to commit to a subscription yet? Boxes are available for one-time purchase for the upcoming month (in this case, November and December boxes are available in the shop now) and sometimes Yoanella has special surprise boxes that contain fewer items but is less expensive so you can get a taste of what you could receive if you do subscribe.

What can I say? So far, so good. This really was a box full of joy! 🙂

Disclaimer: I pay for this subscription with my own money. All opinions are mine and mine alone. This post does not contain referral links.